Using Automated Battery Replacement Stations for the Persistent Operation of Uav-Enabled Wireless Networks During NPP Post-Accident Monitoring

Abstract

Motivation. After the Fukushima, nuclear power plant (NPP) accident, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled wireless network (UEWN) is considered to be used for transmitting the data from monitoring stations (MSs) to the crisis center (CrS) during NPP post-accident monitoring missions. Nevertheless, the popular lightweight UAVs have an endurance of about 20–40 minutes only. The last fact presents a significant barrier to use a UEWN in complex, long-term NPP post-accident monitoring missions. The subject matter of the paper is the process of ensuring the persistent operation of UEWN. This paper aims to propose an approach to ensuring the persistent operation of UEWN during NPP post-accident monitoring missions via automatic battery replacement stations (ABRSs). The objectives of the paper are: to propose a scheme of deployment of a UEWN with ABRSs for the given scenario; to give an example of the proposed scheme application for persistent transmitting the data from a MS to the CrS during Zaporizhzhia NPP (ZNPP) post-accident monitoring missions; to discuss an example of the proposed scheme application. The following results were obtained. A simplified scheme of deployment of a UEWN with ABRSs for transmitting the data from the MS to the CrS during NPP post-accident monitoring missions was developed and described. Two segments within the UEWN were considered: 1) Wi-Fi segment, comprising the WiFi equipment of the MS, the onboard WiFi equipment of the UAVs of a multi-rotor type (MUAVs), and onboard WiFi equipment of the UAV of an airplane-type (AUAV); 2) LoRaWAN segment, comprising the LoRaWAN equipment of the AUAV and the LoRaWAN equipment of the CrS. An example of deployment of a UEWN with ABRSs for transmitting the data from an MS of ZNPP to the CrS was given and described. A shift schedule for 2 MUAV fleets ensuring the persistent operation of the UEWN during post-accident ZNPP monitoring missions was built and analyzed. It was evaluated how the flight distance for the MUAV between its location point in the WiFi segment and the ABRS effects: the duty time for the MUAV fleet; the waiting time for the MUAV to flight to the point of its location in the WiFi segment; the number of the MUAV fleets for ensuring the persistent operation of the UEWN. The new research will aim at developing a scheme of deployment of the UEWN with ABRSs for several WiFi segments

Scheduling Uav Fleets for the Persistent Operation of Uav-Enabled Wireless Networks During NPP Monitoring

“…In the previous work [3], authors of this paper primarily analyzed ABRSs/ABCSs using wired power transmission which requires some physical connection for drone battery charging. Even though wired power transmission is more efficient than wireless power transmission, the WPT technique is currently utilized for drone batteries charging.…”

“…To ensure the persistent operation of the UEWN, shown in Fig. 1, Kliushnikov et al [3] propose to use 2 MUAV fleets (each fleet comprises 9 MUAVs), operating in accordance with the shift schedule and using ABRSs for battery replacement. According to [3], the shift schedule comprises 6 stages shown in Table 3.…”

“…During NPP monitoring, UAVs can be used as an affordable and cost-efficient tool to deploy a UEWN for providing the CrS of the NPP needed monitoring data from MSs of ARMS in case of damage of wired networks [1][2][3]. However, because of the high electrical power requirement, the normal operation time of a MUAV is just 20 to 30 min, limiting the operation time of UEWN during NPP monitoring missions.…”

Load Balancing Between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles of a Flying Wireless Network Using Automatic Replacement and Charging Stations

“…Такі мережі, наприклад, можуть розгортатися для забезпечення бездротового зв'язку між постом контролю (ПК) автоматизованої системи контролю радіаційної обстановки та кризовим центром (КЦ) атомної електростанції (АЕС) у разі якщо дротові мережі між ними були пошкоджені [1][2]. Також вони можуть бути складовою багатоверсійної системи моніторингу АЕС, побудованої з використанням технології Інтернету дронів.…”

“…Для усунення цієї проблеми доцільно використовувати позмінний графік чергування МБПЛА у складі ЛБМ [2], який дозволяє вільній від чергування зміні МБПЛА використовувати автоматичні обмінно-зарядні станції (АОЗС) [3] для заміни або заряду бортової батареї.…”